Bessette/Pitney’s AMERICAN GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS: DELIBERATION, DEMOCRACY AND CITIZENSHIP reviews the idea of "deliberative democracy." Building on the book, this blog offers insights, analysis, and facts about recent events.

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Friday, April 25, 2014

Attitudes Toward States and State Governments

When asked to rate their state as a place to live, three in four Montanans (77%) and Alaskans (77%) say their state is the best or one of the best places to live. Residents of Rhode Island (18%) and Illinois (19%) are the least likely to praise their states....The results are based on a special 50-state Gallup poll conducted June-December 2013, including interviews with at least 600 residents in every state. For the first time, Gallup measured whether residents view their states as "the best possible state to live in," "one of the best possible states to live in," "as good a state as any to live in," or "the worst possible state to live in."

Illinois residents trust their state government to handle their state's problems far less than residents in any other state. Twenty-eight percent of Illinois residents trust their state government "a great deal" or "a fair amount." In contrast, at least 75% of North Dakota, Wyoming, and Utah residents trust their state governments.

The results are based on a special 50-state Gallup poll conducted June-December 2013, including interviews with at least 600 residents in every state. This poll allows Gallup for the first time to report trust in state government at the state level. Gallup has previously measured Americans' trust in their state governments on anational basis. The most recent national estimate, from September 2013, finds 62% of all Americans having a great deal or fair amount of trust in their state government.

The overlap is uncanny. In virtually every state where people said they had above average trust in their state government, they also said that their state was the best or one of the best. And the reverse was also true; if you don't like your state government, the chances of you saying your state is one of the best or the best are tiny. Illinois ranks number one in the least trusted state government and second in worst place to live. Rhode Island is rated as the worst state to live in by its residents and places second in least trust in its state government.